Strange S3 prob... please help!

[happyarthur1979]

Hey Guys,
My brother purchased a 2001 S3 a weeks or so ago, 87k AMD remap, lowered on coilovers and running on 19's (with crap tyres)

Twice over the past couple of days he has been travelling at approx 55-60mph in damp conditions and while turning right and coming off the throttle the rear has broke away and in his words
"felt like it was trying to overtake the front"

He also said that it feels like the rear is not connected to the front???

Has anyone any ideas what could be going on?

We are thinking it could be the massive wheels and crap tyres that are causing the problem, he is getting a set of 18's soon with new tyres so hopefully this will cure it.

Could there be a problem with the Quattro system?

I have fully registered VagCom and no faults are present.

Please help if you can as im sure you will agree it could be quite dangerous!

Many Thanks in advance, Graham.

 

[alijames]

Hi,

Yup, pretty standard reaction when backing off mid-corner on what is still essentially a front-wheel drive car, especially if the rear tyres are a bit low.

Used to happen a lot on my old 1.9 Pug when the tyres were getting 'tired', especially in the wet!!

Cheers,

Alistair

 

[fingermouse]

if too large a rear ARB is fitted this can make the rear lively.

also if rear tyres are worn and poor quality that won`t help

wouldn`t blame the 19`s as mines ok but depends on tyre width.

also you say its on coilovers, has it got the adjustable rear arms to adjust the cambre ??

but remember we have just gone through the coldest spell for a long time, it could have been ice on the road as S3`s normally understear

 

[jcs356]

Sounds like lift-off oversteer? As mentioned, worn/poor quality rear tyres and not having the rear geometry altered when lowered won't help. Did the ESP kick in? To stop it when you feel it happening you need to get back on the power (or stay on the power in the first place to avoid it happening from the start).

 

[Dave83]

I had the exact same thing happen to a couple of time over the past couple of days.
I recently had the rear ARB, was just a standard one, fitted and new axle bushes, aslo rear springs replace under warranty by Eibach as i found them sheared. But still it feels the way you described.
I did have a look at the tread on the rear tyres and it is a bit low on the inside edge as the car has been lowered but have not fitted adjustable tie bars.

Is it just a cobination of really wet surfaces poor tyre tread ?

 

[happyarthur1979]

Thanks for all the help guys!

At least id doesn't sound like a Quattro problem!

Can anyone elaborate on this rear ARB thingy when lowered?

What exactly needs to be changed? and to what?

Many Thanks, Graham.

 

[jcs356]

I'll have a go!

WHen you lower an S3, the geometry at the back ends up being out - which means that you wear the inside edge of the tyres and not the outside. If you look at the back at the car, the rear wheels will looks as if the are leaning inwards (i.e. top of the wheel is further into the car than the bottom). THis can be corrected by fitting some adjustable tie bars to straighten up the wheel alignment.

PS. That is all non-technical - someone will no doubt be along later with the correct terminology!

 

[fingermouse]

jcs thats a good explanation tbh,

rear arb has nothing to do with rear cambre just the lowering alters the cambre as jcs described. ( wheel in at the top ).

the rear ARB is only a issue if someone has fitted a different one, with the car being on coil overs I suspect someone may have changed rear or front and rear ARB.

The Rear is often only changed as its easy to do but can cause handling issues at speed.


come on Glen give us the techi stuff, I can only type in laymans terms.